After paring 23 climate models down to the best half-dozen, two researchers now say with new confidence that arctic summer ice will most likely disappear around 2037. But none of the select models predicts a tipping point--a sudden jump to an ice-free summer Arctic.

A top theoretical physicist turned energy guru has been chosen as undersecretary of science at the Department of Energy (DOE), which this week announced how it would distribute $1.2 billion among its 10 national labs and to universities around the country.

A fiery debate is taking place in the United Kingdom after a major funding agency announced it will ignore submissions from "repeatedly unsuccessful applicants," a policy that could exclude 5% of its previous grant applicants.

On page 1737, a European team uses brain imaging with twins to show that different people may use different strategies to accomplish the same mental task, and that genes influence the type of strategy used.

Last week, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, a $60 million project on the campus of the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)--a state initiative set up to avoid restrictions on federal stem cell research laid down in 2001 by President George W. Bush--is scaling back, rethinking its priorities, and looking at how to mesh its activities with those that will soon be funded by the National Institutes of Health.

In addition to California, several states have made serious attempts to encourage stem cell research. Although some are tightening their belts, these programs generally seem to be holding their own in this uncertain environment--at least for now.

Science's policy blog, ScienceInsider, reported this week on efforts to help a virologist who may have been accidentally exposed to Ebola virus, the strain on the Web site that handles federal grants caused by applications for stimulus money, and other stories.

For each species (or group), the authors describe possible applications in lab research; summarize husbandry, genetics, and genomics; list other resources; and provide basic protocols for work with the organism.

About The Cover

COVER False-color, aberration-corrected transmission electron microscope image of a suspended single atomic layer of graphene. When an electron beam induces ejection of an atom from the edge of an intentionally made ~3-nm hole (black), the hole enlarges; the remaining edge carbon atoms rearrange from perfect hexagons into predicted metastable configurations. See page 1705. Image: Zettl Research Group and National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; 3D visualization via WSxM software